Is Robert Williams The Center Of The Future For The Celtics?
The Boston Celtics seem like a team stuck in purgatory. Are they contenders or pretenders? It feels like you can drastically change your mind on the Celtics on a nightly basis. More importantly, who should Boston prioritize as they try to gear up to win that next championship?
Can someone like Robert Williams become the center of the future? The former first round pick out of Texas A&M is one of the more underrated players on the roster. Additionally, he may be one of the more important players on the roster.
The center position has been a mess in Boston. It really hasn’t been resolved since Kendrick Perkins was traded. It’s been a rotating door of Enes Kanter, Daniel Theis, Tristan Thompson, Aron Baynes, etc. Nothing seems to work the way the Celtics want it to. Williams is the one player with real upside at the position.
The talent really isn’t the issue. In the past, Williams has drawn comps to Clint Capela. At his high end, the Capela comparison almost feels disrespectful. Williams has shown he’s a much more vertical player with the potential to be a much more impactful shot blocker. We just don’t always see the high end.
The biggest red flag with Williams is getting him dialed in with the IQ part of the game. Is it fixable? I’m not sure. Often times, the man known as Timelord will blow easy defensive assignments allowing baskets that shouldn’t happen. There’s problem a reason Boston has a net rating of +6.3 when Williams doesn’t play.
On the other hand, it appears that Williams gives the C’s a spark. If he touches the basketball, usually the ball goes through the hoop. That’s a good thing the last time I checked. Williams is converting over 72% of his attempts. He also isn’t an egregious free throw shooter so he can stay on the floor. His minutes have steadily been increasing as time has gone along. We just need to see more than just the 16 on average we’re seeing thus far.
The potential is there. We have seen flashes of more athletic and explosive DeAndre Jordan. We just don’t see it over the course of an entire game. Quietly, Williams will head into his fourth NBA season a year from now and hit restricted free agency. Does anybody know how much he’s worth? I’m not sure the Celtics do either. The only thing that is certain is that Williams needs to be on the floor so that we can find out.
